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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23607265">Tagalong</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins'>honestgrins</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Captive Audience [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Vampire Diaries (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-ish, F/M, No Humanity Caroline Forbes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:14:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,298</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23607265</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Enzo didn’t quite know what to do with Caroline Forbes, but he liked her. He even liked her sans humanity, though, probably not as much as a certain hybrid.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Caroline Forbes &amp; Lorenzo "Enzo" St. John, Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Captive Audience [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692964</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>150</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tagalong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"We've got a problem."</p>
<p>Enzo rolled his eyes, not that Damon could see his derision over the phone. "Just one?" And here he'd been hoping for a relaxing night without any Salvatores, maddening bunch they were.</p>
<p>With a sigh of exhaustion, however, Damon didn't seem to be offering pleasant news. "Blondie's going off the rails, and Stefan's hellbent on fixing that. We all know how that goes. I've got backup coming, but it'll take too long and I can't get there in the meantime. Are you near Whitmore, by chance?"</p>
<p>Had it been anyone else, he would have hung up. Honestly, he probably should have. But he didn't. "Where is she?"</p>
<hr/>
<p>He was glad he didn't hang up. It was plenty entertaining to watch Caroline toy with Stefan and all his heroic instincts gone terribly wrong. Maybe it wasn't what Damon had in mind when he called for a babysitter, but they were having a good time. No harm in that. And she was staying put, so he was doing his job perfectly well.</p>
<p>At the bar, Enzo was mixing drinks. "Onions or olives, gorgeous?"</p>
<p>"Ew," she grimaced, never mind the fact that she was kneeling in a pool of blood as she picked through Stefan's pockets. "I know you've been in a dungeon for, like, a hundred years, but please. If you can figure out phones, you can figure out how to make a margarita. With <em>limes</em>."</p>
<p>"Fair enough. Finding anything good?"</p>
<p>Sighing, she sat back on her heels. "Just his credit cards, which he'll have frozen as soon as he realizes his wallet is gone. Oh!" She grabbed at a limp hand, twisting. "You don't have a daylight ring, do you?"</p>
<p>Even Enzo balked at that, which proved just how far gone she was from the perky do-gooder vampire he first met - not that he didn't approve of her more ruthless side. "I do not. So kind of you to think of me."</p>
<p>"He's going to hate that you have it," she sang to herself. "Here, catch!" She tossed the ring toward him, but it never reached him.</p>
<p>Suddenly, a new person was standing between them and facing her, his fist raised with the ring inside. The speedy entrance alone meant vampire, and an old one for neither of them to see him coming. </p>
<p>Enzo sprinted toward Caroline, intent on keeping her behind him, only for her to smirk when the stranger grabbed him by the throat. From his unfortunate vantage point at arm's reach, he recognized the dangerous glint in his eyes as one wholly absorbed by the woman watching them. "Now, sweetheart, you don't really want me to kill your friend here, do you?"</p>
<p>"I don't really care," she answered in that new, deadpan voice of hers. How odd for it to sound cheerful anyway; that was just Caroline, he guessed. He didn't take her indifference personally, not when he was able to watch her skip past the line of human and vampire she had once seemed so determined to straddle with ease. The threat of death should have put him off, but what was a quick death after a century of torture? He did get a good look at the new vampire, who didn't bother to look at him at all despite literally holding his life in his hand. "But if you think he's my friend, I know you won't kill him. You're clearly here to save me, or whatever Stefan has convinced you to do in the name of protecting me from my own decisions, which means you think it'll work. And you don't want to have killed my friend when I flip the switch back."</p>
<p>The grip around his throat loosened immediately, and Enzo dropped back to the floor with only a slight stumble. "Thanks, mate," he choked out. "I assume you're the big, bad wolf that's sweet on our girl here."</p>
<p>Caroline rolled her eyes, and the guy grinned, showing off dimples that just weren't fair, in his opinion. "Klaus," he confirmed, then his eyes narrowed. "I know nothing of you, though."</p>
<p>"Klaus, Enzo. Enzo, Klaus. You're both obsessed with the old me, and now you're just boring me," she said plainly. "So, I'm going to go find some fun. You're welcome to join if you can agree to my terms. Otherwise, I'll give you the same message I hope Stefan here finally gets - leave me be, and I'll see you next year." A frown pulled at her mouth, though, as she looked at Klaus. "But you're not good at keeping promises, apparently. What happened to leaving Mystic Falls?"</p>
<p>"Damon sounded a bit desperate to remove you as a threat," he replied evenly despite the rage Enzo heard in his voice. "I preferred bending the rules of our arrangement to whatever solution he decided to execute in my absence. I'll make it up to you, love."</p>
<p>Her chest puffed out as she batted her lashes at him. "Now, that sounds like a promise worth holding onto." Her tone was flirtatious, her gaze calculating. "What's your grand plan, then?"</p>
<p>Enzo felt like a voyeur as Klaus stepped over Stefan's body and into her space. "Your terms, first. I want to know what you're offering and why the Salvatores find it so necessary to stop you."</p>
<p>"They don't," Caroline answered. "Stefan does. I told them to give me a year, no murder, no risky behavior that could draw attention. He didn't like that, not with that guilty conscience of his weighing him down. Damon's only worried I'll get his brother killed now that all bets are off."</p>
<p>"Not with-" Klaus broke off, comprehension dawning. His face twisted into a sour expression. "It seems Damon left out some crucial details. Shall we get a drink, talk things out?"</p>
<p>She seemed to think it over, her eyes never leaving him. For all he'd teased her about it, Enzo was finally beginning to understand why she was so hung up on the dangerous hybrid she'd banned from her life. The tension between them was palpable, full of possibilities that left him a bit winded. For a second, he thought he was looking at a future Caroline could very well have one day. So, what the hell was he doing there?</p>
<p>Ready to turn and leave them to it, he stopped when her gaze landed on him. Something like joy hovered on the edges, the barest hint of intrigue that fascinated him. That was it - she fascinated him, and he'd been so listless in his freedom. She was the closest thing he had to a friend, even without the upbeat optimism out to find the bright side of an eternal life. If anything, she seemed just as perky as ever, humanity or no.</p>
<p>"Can Enzo come with us?"</p>
<p>He let out a chuckle at the return of her flirty tone, happy to find that Klaus appeared equally relieved at her acceptance. "Of course, sweetheart. The more, the merrier." But he tossed the ring he still held at Stefan's prone body, where it bounced off him to clatter on the floor. "We can find your friend something a bit less gaudy to wear," he promised, "provided we come to an agreement for how this year of yours is to go."</p>
<p>Clapping her hands with what almost looked like delight, Caroline thread an arm through one each of theirs. "I want margaritas," she decided, tugging them along with her. "Just know," she warned, her voice gone flat again. "If this is some plan you have to speed up mine, I will make you regret it."</p>
<p>With how bloody she left Stefan, Enzo didn't doubt it. Klaus, however, lifted her hand up to his lips before placing it back in the crook of his elbow. "I'd expect nothing less."</p>
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